When I first took her to the hospital, they diagnosed it as Crohn's disease. Six months later, after I'd learned the vocabulary of aminosalicylates and corticosteroids and immunomodulators, they switched to a simpler word: cancer.

Back when I was a kid, I read mostly fantasy. Then either I got jaded or the genre ran out of interesting things to say. Now it seems like fantasy is back!

 . . . it waits to strike down / the unwary, / the unsuspecting innocent